ConTessa went to Gen Con for the first time in 2015, offering a couple dozen games, plus a handful of other panels, events, and LARPs! We had a great time meeting and interacting with all the women who came out to support ConTessa and have some fun running some games, exploring some panels, and participating in our workshop! So, of course when Gen Con asked us if we'd like to do it again, and this time with a bigger room, we jumped at the chance! Take a look below at the fun we had last year!

We won a gold ENnie!

We won the gold ENnnie for our blog, thanks in part to the many contributions from ConTessans all over the world!

ConTessa Game Night 2015

Our game night in 2015 features 20 games all run at the same time in one great big room. It was a great ton of fun!

ConTessa Game Night 2015

ConTessa Game Night 2015

ConTessa Game Night 2015

ConTessa Game Night 2015

ConTessa Game Night 2015

ConTessa Game Night 2015

ConTessa Game Night 2015

ConTessa Game Night 2015

ConTessa Game Night 2015

ConTessa Game Night 2015

ConTessa Game Night 2015

ConTessa Game Night 2015

Turn Your Fandom into a Game Panel

Featuring Sarah, Ethel, and Cheyenne, talking about their passions!

Turn Your Fandom into a Game Panel

How I Designed It Panel

Turn Your Fandom into a Game Panel

Opening Ceremonies - Stacy

Opening Ceremonies

Special Guest and Keynote Speaker Margaret Weis

Opening Ceremonies - Margaret Weis

Margaret Weis gave a great speech about four great women who were involved in gaming from the early days of TSR!

Opening Ceremonies - Shanna Germain

Special Guest Shanna Germain from Monte Cook Games!

System Design Bootcamp

The System Design Bootcamp was a women-sonly workshop designed to teach the fundamentals of designing a system from scratch. We set up small groups to turn out some great games in just two hours!

What are we doing in 2016?

The ConTessa Gaming Night - Thursday, August 4th 5PM - 10PM

GMs will arrive at 5PM for registration, goodie bags, and an opportunity to meet and network with other women GMing. Games will begin at 6PM for four hour games, 7PM for three hour games, and two hour games starting at 6PM and 8PM.

The GM spot is reserved for women-identified people, but the rest of the table is open to anyone who wants to play! Look for links to our game events here on the website as they become available or search for the group name 'ConTessa' at the Gen Con site once events go live to see what we'll be offering.

Last year, we filled up 22 tables. This year, we hope to fill up over 30!

Wanna GM a game?

Last year, the room was electric - filled to the brim with women running games! It's a unique environment, where you'll get a chance to interact with other women who run games in a fully women-led environment. This year, it should be on fire with 30+ GMs running games all at the same time!

We have 2, 3, and 4 hour slots available. There are no requirements on what games can and can not be run, so pick your favorite! To get a spot as a GM, fill out our event submission form, and give us all the pertinent details, or contact us at admin@contessa.rocks.

All our GMs get a thank-you gift in the form of a bag full of awesome swag!

Wanna Run a Panel, LARP, or other event?

If you've got an idea for a great panel, workshop, LARP, or other event that fits well with ConTessa's goals of empowering women as leaders within our community, we'd love to hear about it! We can offer you help finding panelists, we'll promote it on our website, add it to our brochure and schedule, give you some swag to give away, and to the best of our ability we'll have our pit crew show up with ConTessa signs and moral support!

Need a Badge?

We have very few badges available for women who would not be able to go to Gen Con otherwise. We want you to go and have fun! We only require that you run a game at our game night and either volunteer at our GM registration table or run a panel, workshop, LARP, seminar, or other event as a ConTessa event on Friday or Saturday (we're keeping Thursday as just the gaming night). We have a very small amount of badges available, so if you're interested and need a badge please contact us ASAP at admin@contessa.rocks.

Please Note: We can only provide a badge, not transportation or housing!

The System Design Bootcamp (Women Only)

We ran this event last year with great success, and we'll be running it again this year! Look for the event on Friday, with more news coming as events get scheduled!

The System Design Bootcamp is designed to offer the basics of designing the system for a tabletop roleplaying game. We break the group up into smaller groups of 4-5, brainstorm and collaborate on ideas, then walk through a templated system designed to produce a working game that can be playtested by the end of the three hour session.

What's Next?

Keep following us here, at our Facebook page, on Google+, and on Twitter where we'll be posting events and information as we get them and they're approved by Gen Con!